Aftermath at Ground Zero
by SilentJo
Summary: One detail overlooked resulted in injuries to many, Deku receiving the worst of it. The resulting guilt Bakugou feels only grows whenever he sees the scar his failure left behind. A witness to the accident, Todoroki steps up and forces Bakugou to face what (and who) he's been avoiding since that summer day. Day 3 of Tumblr's BNHA Angst Week 2019 Prompts: Empty/Scars


He avoided it every chance he could. Seeing it only made him remember his failings as a hero. And having that realization hit him every time he saw that scar made him sick to his stomach. Bakugou had spent so many years talking himself up to be the best of the best. No one was able to stand equal to him. But with one training mission over the summer break, his perspective of himself changed.

"I didn't know we would all be participating for this!" Midoriya cheerfully said as he walked up to Bakugou and Todoroki as they waited for the Pro that was leading the assignment to show up.

"Good morning, Midoriya," said Todoroki.

Bakugou greeted him with a sneer and grunt, not bothering to verbalize his displeasure at having to spend a day with Deku or Todoroki.

Their task was only meant to be a search and rescue, which was why the internship had deemed it okay for them to get involved. They had secured the injured victims of the villain's hit and run attack on their office building and were doing a final sweep before calling in the local authorities.

"Anything suspicious you call us over, okay? This villain has a habit of leaving traps behind, so be on your guard," said the Pro, leading several of his sidekicks to the distant end of the large office space. A multitude of desks were lined up in rows, the panic had resulted in papers and debris to be scattered around the floor, making their search more tedious.

"Gah, this is bullshit! There's nothing to find here, it's just a waste of time," Bakugou complained as he turned over another small waste basket and started slamming the nearby trash into it.

"He said to be cautious, Kacchan; if he's familiar with this villain, he must be right about there being something rigged. Try to be more careful moving things around."

Bakugou had grown tired of hearing Deku's voice; he had to tolerate it during their normal classes, but he would be damned if he'd sit still and listen to it during his summer break. "How about you shut your damn mouth and focus on your own area?! No one wants to hear what you think, damn nerd!"

Silence took over again as they continued examining the room and its contents. Bakugou had moved on to the next desk, flipping the overturned computer chair back over with a loud thump. He noticed Deku going back over the area that he had just checked and grew angry.

"What do you think you're doing, Deku? Don't think I'm capable of doing this shitty job?"

"Shh… there's a… noise. It's coming from this direction," Midoriya replied as he kept his head lower to the ground, trying to source where the sound was coming from.

Bakugou rolled his eyes, like there was really something over there that he hadn't noticed. Todoroki had heard their conversation and went to notify the Pro of Midoriya's discovery.

"There it is again, that low hum…" Midoriya had traced it to the second-to-last desk in Bakugou's area of inspection.

"I told you I didn't miss anythi—"

The explosion rocked the foundation of the room. It wasn't a powerful blast, but it was enough to destroy most of the contents of the room. Those that had been in the near vicinity had the worst injuries. Fortunately there had been no fatalities, although it was unclear as to how that was even possible, considering how close Midoriya had been to the device when it detonated.

He may have survived the bombing, but Midoriya was far from unaffected. The sight in his right eye was gone due to the jagged wound that covered a good portion of his face, starting above his eyebrow and ending just before the corner of his mouth. Heavily wrapped in bandages, he spent the rest of his summer break in the hospital, getting visits from Recovery Girl whenever he had the energy to undergo one of her 'treatments.'

And during that length of time, Bakugou refused to leave his room. Flashbacks to that day prevented him from sleeping properly. When his body finally wore down enough to force him to sleep, he could only manage a few hours at best before his mind replayed the bloody scene over again, shocking him awake in a cold sweat. Eventually, as time moved on, the nightmares and insomnia happened less often. By the time the break ended, Bakugou managed to recover his regular sleep routine.

At least, until the first day of class began, and he saw it.

The crowd of students had blocked his view of Deku at first, everyone was so busy asking him questions about the accident. Bakugou had rolled his eyes and tried to slide past them on his way to his seat, and as he passed Deku's desk, he glanced over to see what the fuss was about. He soon wished he hadn't.

"Oh… Hi, Kacchan. How was the rest of your b-break?" Deku asked nervously. A slim gray eyepatch covered his right eye, though even between that and his messy green hair, there was no way of hiding the scar that had taken over the right side of his face.

Bakugou stared at his face, the hairs on his arms prickled up with chills as his memories of that damned day came back like they happened yesterday. Bile collected in the back of his throat, threatening to bring up what he'd eaten for breakfast. Clamping his palm against his mouth, he ran out of the classroom, barely making it into the toilet stall before relieving himself of the contents of his stomach. Tears pooled and dropped down as he kneeled on the bathroom floor, waiting for the nausea to pass. He left the school grounds and went back home, curling up under his comforter and hoping to not have to relive the pain he dealt with over the summer. He couldn't go through that again, he'd barely made it through the first time.

So he skipped classes for the first few days. Once he felt stable enough, he returned, avoided even looking in Deku's direction. As soon as classes were over, he quickly left the grounds before Deku could have the chance to talk to him. Which he knew was what the nerd wanted, hearing him start to speak but cutting his words short as soon as Bakugou quickly walked off.

Several weeks passed by like this, until Bakugou was able to tolerate seeing Deku from a distance. He hated it whenever Deku looked at him with that stupid grin. What reason could he have for smiling like that? Especially to the person that had caused him to go blind in one eye. He wanted to tell Deku to stop it. That he didn't deserve to see such a happy face from someone that was so wounded by his failure. But he couldn't bring himself to even say his name anymore, much less hassle or bully him. Speaking to him would mean interacting, and he felt it would just set off another round of nausea and pain.

"Excuse me, could I talk to you for a moment, Bakugou?" Todoroki requested as Bakugou was leaving for the day.

"What do you want, half-n-half? I got no time for nonsense."

Todoroki slammed his fist against the wall behind Bakugou's head, pinning him in place. "What's nonsense here is the way you've been treating Midoriya since school started back. Now let's talk, somewhere a little quieter would work better for you, right?"

He started to feel that familiar pang in his gut, and he wanted to run away, but felt it was impossible to do so. He resigned to follow Todoroki into the empty library and sat down at a nearby table.

"What do you have to say, make it quick."

Todoroki claimed the chair across from him. "Why have you been ignoring Midoriya? Is it because of the accident?"

"Tch, why should I tell you? I don't owe you or Deku anything."

"Do you know what Midoriya did with the rest of his summer break? He spent it screaming himself awake when he was able to fall asleep. Countless changes to his bandages, each time more painful than the last as that wound on his face healed. Passing out from fatigue as Recovery Girl treated him for that and his other injuries. Learning to get by with only one good eye. That's how Midoriya spent his time off."

Bakugou cringed at Todoroki's words. "Why are you telling me this shit?"

"Because I think you were suffering as well, only you did so alone. Midoriya only wanted to connect with you. To try to be there for you as someone that had been through the same trauma and understood why you couldn't bring yourself to get out of bed or even eat."

"Bullshit, no one would want to 'connect' with the person responsible for all their pain. You weren't as close to the blast as we were, so you couldn't possibly understand!"

"He doesn't blame you, Bakugou. Not once since it happened. Whether you believe that or not is up to you, but you should at least give him the chance to tell you so himself."

He wouldn't fall for it, not now. He knew he was a failure of a hero and seeing that scar across Deku's freckled face was all the proof he needed of that fact.

"You also want to know something? A theory of mine, since I've done nothing but think of what could have been done differently that day. I think that the reason you missed the device was due to something that you couldn't help."

Bakugou cocked up and eyebrow, "Something I can't help? What kind of bullshit is that?"

Todoroki leaned closer, "Your Explosion Quirk has been slowly deteriorating your hearing. Think about it, you're constantly setting off extremely loud noises near you. That has to be damaging your ability to hear properly, especially after so many years. It explains why you can't help but yell all the time. And when we were in that office, that would be the reason you couldn't hear the noise coming from the bomb but Midoriya could."

It wasn't a bad theory. He'd never noted a change in his level of hearing, but it wasn't impossible either. But could he really say that his slip-up could be forgiven just because of this? Staying on this subject was exhausting him, his emotions on the verge of spilling over if he wasn't careful.

"It was still my fault, no matter what theories you come up with. That nerd lost an eye because of me!"

"No, he lost it because a villain set a trap and he got caught in it! You're placing blame on yourself that doesn't belong to you. I get that you feel guilty, I do. But you're only hurting yourself by putting yourself through this. I can tell you've lost weight, and your bloodshot eyes give away your inability to sleep properly. Talk to Midoriya. I really believe that it will help the both of you move forward."

"I… I can't face him."

"Then don't face him directly. Start with something comfortable, like texts. Just start a dialogue. Let it take off from there." Todoroki sighed heavily as he stood up from his seat. He produced a slip of paper from his pocket, laying it on the table and sliding it towards Bakugou with his index finger.

"It's his number. He wasn't sure if you had it, so he asked me to share it with you. He said to take your time, but that he'd like to talk soon. I've said all I needed to and had been asked to say. We all want you to get better, Bakugou. You still have so much promise as a hero. Don't let this sway your dreams. Good evening."

Todoroki stretched his legs before walking out of the library, leaving Bakugou to stare at the paper in front of him. Picking it up, he felt a momentary urge to just incinerate it. However, after thinking about everything that hot-n-cold bastard said, he picked up his phone instead. Checking the number, he saw that he already had it saved in his contacts. Choosing 'New Message' from the options, he started to write.

**Bakugou:**** Yo nerd, what do you want?**


End file.
